There are many situations where it is necessary to disseminate information to network-connected devices, such as computers, PDAs, mobile telephones etc. The information to be disseminated may, for example, be a security patch, a news item, an alert etc. The dissemination may use a pull-based model, where a network-connected device connects to a network server to download the information, or the dissemination may use a push-based model, where a network server transfers the information to a network-connected device without a prior explicit request from that device.
In one example of a push-based model, an element in the network which possesses a particular piece of information may select a target address from the entire network address space at random and then push the piece of information to the target address. In another example, the underlying structure of the network (e.g. peer-to-peer overlays) may be used to assist the information dissemination.
The embodiments described below are not limited to implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known dissemination methods.